Floating house structure



Oct. 21, 1947. c. v. WATSON 2,429,381

FLOATING HOUSE STRUCTURE Filed March 29, 1945 E9 .INVENTOR.

BY M zmrm.

Patented Oct. 21, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FLOATING HOUSE STRUCTURE Carlisle V. Watson, Auburn, Maine Application March 20, 1945, Serial No. 583,665

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a floating structure supported upon a raft or float and is particularly useful when embodied in a floating house having a bay opening therein, adapted readily to accommodate a boat requiring storage, servicing or repairs.

The raft or floats employed to-sustain a floating boat-house of this type generally form a U shaped assembly. A raft, or assembly of floats, following this or any rectangular pattern will weave considerably due to periodic seas and swells caused by bad weather or passing vessels.

A floating house built in a normal way on such a foundation will naturally be subjected to these varying stresses and strains of weaving and racking. Rapid and positive disintegration of the building is inevitable under such conditions.

In accordance with the present invention the house structure is spaced above the raft, and has what is in effect a three-point support thereon, the result being that the flexing of the raft under wave action does not directly affect the house structure which remains relatively steady. In other words I provide space for lost motion to occur between the raft or floats on the one hand and three walls of the house structure on the other hand, thus obviating or at least largely reducing the disturbance that reaches the house. The invention relates not only to the three-point support broadly, but also to various structural features for advantageously obtaining the desired results.

My invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, selected for purposes and illustration and shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a plan view of a floating house embodying the invention,

Fig. 2 is a front side view with portions broken away to show certain structural details,

Fig. 3 is a left end view,

' Fig. 4 is a right end view with portions broken away.

A raft of any suitable or preferred type is provided, and as shown in the drawing it comprises a somewhat flexible framework l 0, externally rectangular and U-shaped in-outline and having an opening I l providing a slip to receive a power or other boat. The framework I is supported on floats l2, [2 which may be cedar logs, pontoons or drums. Bails l3, I3 are provided at the rear side of the raft and these engage piles so as to hold the raft in place while permitting vertical move- 2 ment in accordance with rise and fall of the tide.

A rectangular house structure is carried by the raft, this comprising a front wall M, a rear wall [5, end walls 5 and I1, and a pitched roof [8. When the raft is U-shaped, as is preferred, to form a slip for alboat, the corresponding end wall I! has an opening therein to receive the boat. The house structure is located above the raft and is supported thereon by three-point supporting system now to be described.

At one side, as for instance the rear side IS, the house structure is supported on the raft at longitudinally spaced points, preferably at its corners. As shown, such support is effected by a timber or sill I9 which rests directly on the raft and supports the said rear corners of the house structure. The timber may if desired run the entire length of the wall I5, and it may incidentally support the side wall not only at the corners but also between the corners; but its essential function so far as present invention is concerned is to provide support at two longitudinally spaced points, preferably the corners.

The opposite wall of the house structure, in this instance the front wall I4, is supported on the raft at a single point midway of its front side. This single-point support at the front preferably comprises a vertical mast or post 20 which is incorporated in the house structure and projects upwardly to a substantial height above the surface of the raft. The mast 20 preferably constitutes part of a truss in the front wall M, the said truss also comprising diagonal turnbuckle tie rods 2| and 22 which extend from an overhead connection at the top of the mast 20 to the front corners of the house structure at the ends of the front wall [4. .The tie rods may extend to the upright timbers at the corners, as shown, or to the horizontal timber at points near the corners. Thus the twofront corners of the house are supported by the mast and are not supported directly on the raft.

As already stated, the house structure is spaced upwardly from the raft along its front and two end walls. Preferably the space between them at the front and at the ends is closed by a flexible curtain, for example, a strip of heavy canvas 23.

The described single-point support at the front together with the support of the two corners at the rear provide the requisite three-point support for the house structure as a whole. The single-point support at the front permits free vertical movement of the raft relative to the 3 front and end walls of the house structure, except at the said supporting point. Thus the raft can flex and different portions of it can rise and fall under the influence of waves and swells,

without transmitting corresponding flexing or 5 racking movements to the several portions of the house structure.

Having thus disclosed my invention and described in detail a specific embodiment thereof for purposesof'illustration, I claim as new and 10 desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a floating structure, the combination of raft, a rectangular house structure supported"- above the raft, a vertical mast incorporated-in" one wall of the house structure near the center 15 thereof and supported at its lower enddi rectly" on the raft, and diagonaltierods-extending;

downwardly from the top of the mast to the lower adjacent corners of the house structure, the-said tie rods supporting the said corners in spaced 20 relationship with the raft and permitting free vertical movements of the raft relative thereto.

2. A floating boat house comprising an elongated raft having a longitudinal sill extending alongvoneside, a vertical post projectingup- 5 wardly to 'a substantial hei'ght" from the other side 'of the raft, a house structure having one wallsupported by. said sill, itie rods-"extending v substantial height above the raft, a house structure having one wall supported directly on the said sill and its opposite wall including said post, and oblique tie rods having overhead connection to the'p'ost'and serving to suspend the outer corners of the said opposite wall independently of the raft.

CARLISLE V. WATSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references areof record-in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Number Smith Aug; 16, 1932 

